Vending rack assembly



June 27, 1961 F. A. CELLER 23,990,228

VENDING RACK ASSEMBLY Filed on. 27, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

, FREDERIC A. CELLER B OE Jaw M ATTORNEYS United States Patent Cfice RACK ASSEMBLY Frederic A. Celler, Homer, N.Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to The Seeburg Corporation, Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Pennsylvania 1 I Filed Oct. 27, 1958, Ser. No. 769,896 3 Claims. (Cl. 312-237) This invention relates to vendors for bottled goods and, more particularly, to a bottle support structure for such vendors.

An object of this invention is to modify the horizontal type bottle vendor to guarantee a certain percentage of the vend capacity of such vendors to be restricted to a particular bottled product.

Another object is a vending rack structure for bottle vendors which discriminate against bottles of other than a predetermined type.

Still another object is to provide bottle discriminating vending racks having at least one template associated therewith for the purpose of affording superior product discrimination.

A further object is to provide a vendor having a vending rack structure for bottles having a reduced neck and nipped-in waist, wherein a template is adapted to provide passage therethrough of such bottles along their length of travel between the loading end and bottle escapement of the vendor.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent FIG. 2 is a perspective view of these vending racks disassociated from their vendor cabinet;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of these racks; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 4-4 of FIG. 3 with certain parts broken away and removed.

In FIG. 1 the illustrated horizontal type vendor 10 comprises the usual cabinet 12 having a hinged top 14 pivotal about a horizontal axis from a horizontal normally closed position.

It should be understood that vendor 10 will house a conventional refrigeration system (not shown) within the lower part of the cabinet 12. In this connection, the side panels of the cabinet 12 may include suitable louvered openings or venting screens (not shown) for cooperating to enhance the desired air circulation and, consequently, refrigeration of the interior of cabinet 1 by the refrigeration system.

The interior walls of cabinet '12 properly mount a vending rack structure 16 for receiving and conveniently loading within the cabinet 12 a series of bottles to be vended through a conventional coin releasedbottle discharge gate mechanism 18. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, bottles are usually loaded through a pivotal door (not shown) in the side panel of cabinet 12 distal the coin released mechanism 18 to be ultimately retained for slidable displacement and then dispensing by the vending rack structure 16. v

When a customer intends to consume the loaded-bottled package, he will first insert the required coin in the coin mechanism 18. An accepted coin strikes a vend switch which, in one form of commercial vendor, will operate a solenoid to release a catch thereby permitting a selected bottle to be pulled through the pivoted gates of the coin released mechanism 18. The gates are advantageously disposed on each side of the illustrated short slot and are releasably pivotal to open upwardly when a bottle is pulled vertically by its neck.

As mentioned in the foregoing, a principal object of this invention is to insure a certain percentage of the vend capacity of the vendor 10 with bottles of a partic ular manufacturer having a predetermined bottled package. For the purpose of disclosing this invention,

it Will be assumed that a bottled package presents the H configuration and outer contours represented by bottle 20, whichis more clearly illustrated in FIG. 4. This,

bottle 20 will include a reduced neck portion 22 terminating in a relatively enlarged head 24. The base portion 26 of the bottle 20 will extend from a nipped-in waist I portion 28. Furthermore, it will be assumed that the desired vend capacity of this vendor 10 will be such that vending racks 16 will guarantee that approximately 50% of the interior cabinet 12 will be restricted to the selected. bottle 20. In this connection, the remaining vend capac ity afforded by vending racks 16 will besatisfied by practically all kinds of soft drink bottles with the standard reduced neck and enlarged head for receiving the usual bottle cap.

The vending racks 16 will include a plurality of spaced and parallel neck retaining or embracing racks 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44 and 46. These neck retaining racks 'are united and secured in the desired spaced apart rela-' tionship by means of the transversely extending cross bars 48, 50 and 52, as for example, by welding or riveting. As illustrated, the cross bars 48, 50 and 52 are formed with a plurality of slotted openings 54 registering with the space between the adjacent neck retaining racks to therer by permit the enlarged head and mounted cap of the retained bottles to pass freely along these racks and not encounter any structural obstruction.

The neck retaining rack 30 is so constructed and arranged that it will be adjacent the interior of the rear wall of the cabinet 12 when the vending racks 16 are positioned within the vendor 10. This neck retaining rack 30 simulates an angle bar or beam and includes a downwardly projecting diagonal flange 56 from the longitudinally extending bottle neck embracing corner 58.

The neck retaining racks 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42 and 44 are substantially identical and include a pair of con- 3' verging depending flanges 60 and 62 extending from corners 64 and 66, respectively, which are similarly adapted to embrace the reduced neck portion of the mounted bottles.

The neck retaining rack 46 is complementary to rack 30 and includes a bottle neck retaining corner 68 from which extends depending diagonal flange 70.

discharge side of the vendor.

42, 44 and 46 by either welding or riveting.

The templates 72 and 74 are substantially identical The template openings 76 are conveniently located in the templates 72 and 74 so that they will register with their associated slotted openings 54 substantially as illustrated in FIG. 4. Each template opening 76 cooperates with its associated slotted opening 54, as well as its pair of neck retaining racks, to present a silhouette corresponding to the outer configuration of the selected bottle 20.

Patented June 27, 1961 and 2? each includes a number of template openings 76cor r esponding in number to the slotted openings 54 of the cross bars on the'discriminating'side of the vending rack 16?" Thus, it will be apparent that, by providing template 74 adjacent the loading side of the vending racks 16, bottles having other than the predetermined configuration cannot be properly loaded in the discriminating part of the vendor 10. The template 72; adjacent the discharge side of the vending racks 16, not only prevents a bottle of other than the selected type from being discharged, though the discriminatingside ofthe vending racks 16', but prevents a bottle from being loaded through the non;- discriminating side of these racks to be ultimately sup ported by the racks on-the discriminating side. This latter bottle manipulation is possible by loading the discriminating side through its discharge end by bottles pulled through the discharge endof the non-discriminating side of the racks 16. Obviously, the provision of templates at the discharge and loading end of the discriminating side of the vending racks 1'6 assures the manufacturer of the bottled product 20 that a certain percentage oi vendorwill be restricted to his bottled product.

In view of the foregoing structure, it will be practicaliy impossible for a customer to obtain free bottles, especially at the discriminating side of racks 16,, byany particular manipulation of a retained bottle. length greater than the preselected bottle 20 obviously cannot be dispensed or even loaded by means of the discriminating side of racks 16 because of the templates 72 and 74. On the other hand, bottles that are somewhat shorter than bottle 20 will either cause vendor maliunctioning in some instances or improper bottle sliding to the vendor trap 18. It will be extremely difficultfor such bottles to be inserted through the template openings 76. and still be capable of support by the neck retaining Bottles having a racks on the discriminating side of vendor 10. Of course,

bottles without anipped-in waist portion will notbe permitted access into the discriminating side of these racks 16 by the template 74. Accordingly, the vendor 10 is guaranteed a certain percentage of itsvend capacity with bottles having the particular configuration simulating that ofbottle 20. e

Thus, it should be clear that the aforementioned objects. and advantages, among others, are most effectively attained. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and is not to be limited tothe details disclosed herein.

I claim: a

1. In a horizontal-type vendor for refrigerated bottles having a cabinet providing walls defining a compartment:-

rack means in said compartment for permitting the loading of certain sectors of said vendor and the discharge therefrom of bottles having predetermined dimensions and contoured surface characteristics including reduced neck portions and nipped-in waist portions and discriminating against other bottles possessing other than said characteristics while permitting said other bottles to be loaded in and discharged from other sectors of said vendor; said rack means including afirst plurality of spaced and parallel bottle neck retaining racks each of which is disposed in substantially the same plane and cooperable to engage the neck of said other bottles, a second plurality of spaced and parallel bottle. neck retaining racks each of which is disposed in substantially the same plane for cooperating to engage the neck of said bottles having predetermined surface characteristics, and at least one template associated with said second plurality of neck re taining racks and having a plurality of openings therein simulatingthe. outer configuration of zones of said bottles having predetermined surface characteristics for permit. ting passage therethrough of said bottles having predes 4 termined surface characteristics while preventing the passage therethrough of said other bottles.

2. In a horizontal type vendor for refrigerated bottles having a cabinet providing walls defining a compartment: rack means in said compartment for permitting the loading of certain sectors of said vendor and the discharge therefrom of bottles having predetermined dimensions and contoured surf-ace characteristics including reduced neck portions and nipped-in waist portions and discriminating against other bottles possessing other than said characteristics while permitting said other bottles to be loaded in and discharged from other sectors of said vendor; said rack means including a first plurality of spaced andparallel bottle neck retaining racks each ofwhich is disposed in substantially the same plane and cooper-able to engage the neck of said other bottles, a second plural-ityof spaced and parallel bottle neck retaining racks each of which is disposed in substantially the same plane for cooperating to engage the neck ofsaidbottles having predetermined surface characteristics, and a pair of templates associated with saidsecond plurality of neck retaining racks and each having a plurality of openings therein simulating the outer configuration of zones ofsaid bottles having predetermined surface characteristics for permitting passage therethrough of said bottles having templates being positioned normal to said neck retainingracks adjacent said discharge end and the other ofsaid templates being positioned normal to said neck retaining racks adjacent said loading end.

3. In a horizontal type vendor for refrigerated bottles having a cabinet providing walls defining a compartment: rack means in said compartment for permitting the loading of certain sectors of said vendor and the discharge therefrom of bottles having predetermined surface characteristics and discriminating against other bottles possessing other than said characteristics while permitting said other bottles to be loaded in and discharged from other sectors of said vendor; said rack means including a first plurality of spaced and parallel bottle neck retaining racks each of which is disposed in substantially the same plane and cooperable to engage the neck of said other bottles, and, a second plurality of spaced and parallel bottle neck retaining racks each of which is disposed in substantially the same plane for cooperating to engage the neck'of said bottles having predetermined surface characteristics; at least one horizontal cross bar per-. pendicular to and surmounting said first and said second plurality of racks and afiixed to said racks to maintain the desired spacing thereof, said cross bar having a plurality of slotted openings one registering with each space between the adjacent racks; and at least one template associated with said second plurality of neck retaining racks and said cross bar and having a plurality of openings therein each of which cooperates, with a corresponding pair of said racks and a corresponding one of said slot-ted opfi illgs, to present a silhouette conforming to the, outer figura on t s id bottle ha ing p e etermined surface characteristics.

- ReIGtences Cited in the file of this, patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,260,643 

